July may well be considered as West Philippines Sea (WPS) Month by the local adherents of the legitimacy of Noynoy Aquino’s concept and name for this patch of sea west of the Philippines and south of China.
This is because every July 12th for the last 14 years—the anniversary of the so-called ruling of the Arbitration Court in The Hague which made a one-party arbitration on the South China Sea (SCS).
In 2016, China chose not to participate in that US-instigated and Philippines government-financed junket in the Netherlands, so that when this panel released a ruling that undermines its historic nine-dash line in that part of the sea, it was just par for the course that China would reject it.
The American boys (and girls) who relish just being brown brothers (and sisters) to our former colonial masters have time and again bandied this Arbitral ruling.
They are most active in July, when the Arbitral ruling celebrates its anniversary, and when Jingoism is allowed to rear its ugly head anew.
They conveniently forget that China and the Philippines are not the only ones contesting the ownership of those islets and shoals.
The list of claimants include Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam, and Taiwan.
They always refer to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) that a country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) extends to some 200 nautical miles from its baseline. The bones of contention in this WPS issue are Bajo de Masinloc (Scarborough Shoal) near Zambales and Ayungin Shoal near Palawan, both within the country’s EEZ.
The operative term in this US-financed PR spin is “exclusive,” and clueless social media netizens and even mainstream media experts like those in GMA 7, Inquirer and others are sadly succeeding in convincing the masses of this spin.
Even congressmen like Laguna’s Dan Fernandez are still clueless about UNCLOS, and this is the reason why he asked writer Ado Paglinawan what this UNCLOS is about, during the last Tricom hearing in the House of Representatives.
Before Ado Paglinawan was able to read his piece and explain it, Rep. Robert Barbers cut him down, as he has already judged Ado as one of the political bloggers whose position is opposed to that of Jay Tarriela, whose jingoism rivals only that of Francis “Tol” Tolentino. Barbers, as chair of the committee holding the congressional inquiry, then was seen getting advice from Tarriela.
The whole West Philippine Sea issue should be seen in its proper light, as Paglinawan would have given closed-minded nincompoops in Congress had he been allowed to speak. Benny Abante, who wanted to claim victory in Manila’s 6th district despite the overwhelming rejection from the voters, along with Barbers, maintained that Ado Paglinawan was touting falsehood just because he visited Beijing twice in a span of 5 years.
We dare say that the current poster boy of jingoism in the country is none other than former senator Francis Tolentino. Caught with his pants down while holding a big check that says the Chinese embassy presumably paid a local media firm less than P100,000 to fuel its trolls (why so measly? the money was used in a normal hotel party to celebrate China’s event), Tolentino was given a slap on the wrist by China—he cannot enter China, Hong Kong or Macau.
Tol retorted: “This sanction is a badge of honor, and a testament to my unwavering commitment to protect our national interest and our people’s dignity.”
Nobody believed him, probably not even Tito Sotto who was seated next to him at the Bagong Pilipinas campaign presscon. Proof that the people did not buy his antics is that Tolentino lost miserably in the 2025 elections.
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